Zap Niles

My name is Zap Niles—or rather, that is the name I use as a professional album reviewer. I've been involved in the music industry for nearly four decades as a musician, and have also worked in the publishing industry for nearly two decades, both as an author of novels and short stories, as well as an editor/copy-editor and book cover artist.

But of greater importance, I own a lot of music. Quite a lot. At last count, I have more than 6,000 albums in my collection. And I enjoy quite a number of musical styles, mostly in the “Rock” genre. Perhaps my all-time favorite style of music is Progressive Rock (bands such as Genesis, Gentle Giant, Magenta, IQ, Galahad, Pallas, Yes, Spock’s Beard, etc.) and the various sub-genres associated with it (Neo-Prog, Symphonic Prog, Eclectic-Prog, etc.). Yet I also crave various styles of Metal (Progressive Metal, Power Metal, Symphonic Metal, Neoclassical Metal, Heavy Metal), Hard Rock, Glam Rock, AOR/Melodic Rock, even some Country Rock, Punk Rock, Jazz, Jazz-Fusion, and (on occasion) even some pure Pop and Power Pop.

When writing album reviews, please know that I strive to be as fair as possible when offering any criticism. In other words, I will not write negative remarks just for the sake of being mean. Regardless, some folks may not agree with my ratings or comments, either positive or negative, but please know these are just my opinions based on my musical tastes.

I created my own blog at https://zapniles.wordpress.com, which is where I write album reviews of all genres for my own enjoyment, as well as a place to store all of the various reviews and opinions I’ve posted on other music-related websites through the years. I hope you'll visit me there in the future.